Another Top for me

I made this top for myself from a Japanese pattern book.  It has a ribbon drawstring details at the waist. The front yoke portion is the same as the baby doll top that I've made earlier.

The 3/4 sleeves with elastic gathers.

And fabric-covered buttons! I overcome my fear and made 2. So nice. Will be making more of those for my girls' dresses.

Haven't have a chance to wear them yet. I've plans to make some more top from my fabric stash that I've bought from Fabric.com and Spotlight. If only I can find the time...

Colour Pen Roll

Nice and Compact

I've bought these colourful pens that have stamp tip on the other ends from Ikea Kids Section for $1.90.

I made one in less than 30minutes. It's true. I would say it's an easy project even for a new sewer. Just need to sew straight lines. 

I've jotted down a simple tutorial below. The size of fabric is depended on the size of your pen. Just make sure you can fit in all the pens.

Material
1 outer fabric measure 10.5" X 8.5" [For the back]
1 outer fabric measure 10.5" X 5.5" [For the holder flap]
1 inner fabric measure 10.5"  X 13.5"
Ribbon tie/velcro

Note: I've used a print fabric that has directional print, so I need to cut out 2 pieces of outer fabric. If you are using plain or non-directional fabric, just cut one piece same size as the inner fabric.

Instruction
1) Sew the 2 outer fabric, Right Side Facing (RSF), along the 10.5" side. Make sure that the print direction for both pieces are directly opposite. ie when you flip the holder flap up, the print should looks upright. [You can skip this step if you are using one continuous piece]

2) Press seam open. Place the Inner fabric and Outer fabric RSF and sew the whole circumference of the pieces, leaving about 2" opening to turn it out.

3) Clip corners. You can serge the seams if you like. Turn the fabric Right Side Out through the opening and iron. Topstitch close to the edge, around the whole piece again.

4) Flip the holder flap over and pin in place.

5) My roll will need to fit 6 pens so I've made 6 slots.  Measure 0.8" from left and right of the side seam. Mark with Pins. There after, place a pin about 1.5" or so.  The size of the pen will determine how wide your columns will be. So measure them before you start.
6) Sew a straight line marked by the pins from the start of the flap to the bottom of the flap. Do the same for the rest of the 7 lines. You can insert the tab and ribbon tie. The 2 ribbon should be place together.

back view. love the print

There! All done.  It's so easy that I made 5 more. Yes, all 5 of them : )


I made all 6 of them!



Floral dress

I made this for myself the other day. 

front view

 A spagetti strapped dress with gathered elastic waist.


Back view

The fabric is light weight cotton with floral trim that I got from Spotlight. I love the pretty green small flower trimming on this fabric. So I cut 2 rectangles and sew them together to make this dress.

If you look closer, you will see that it has a elastic at the waist and chest areas. The width of the fabric is just enough for me to cut for both the bodice and skirt. I love the dress. So light and pretty!

Floral Tote bag

Ikea is really the place for bag fabric. I've made yet another tote bag with the fabric from Ikea.

This one was picked out by my mother in law. She asked me to sew her a big tote bag so that she can put in her bag and take it out when she needed a bigger bag for all her shopping. She requested for a zip on this one.

Front view

Front pocket

Zipper on bag

I basically did the same method as the messenger bag but only adjusted the bag size and handle straps differently. This one has a lining and zipper instead of a flap. 

I applied the zipper only after I've top-stitched the bag as I've clean forgotten that she wanted a zip. But anyway, managed to insert the zipper thought the edge are visable instead of hidden in the seam.  But, you can't really see it from the outside.  Sigh..if you happen to do the same mistake as me, you can try my last minute zipper insertion method.

Sewing the zipper on bag (on hindsight)
1. Cut 4 strip of fabric the slightly longer (about 0.5") than the zipper and about 1.5" wide each.

2. Fold in (0.25") the short edge of the each strip to the wrong side and iron flat. Your strips should now be the same size as your zipper.

3. Lay one strip Right Side Facing up and place zipper facing down on top of the strip. Align zipper to the edge of the fabric along the side. Then place the 2nd strip (Right Side Facing Down) on top of zipper, align edge. Pin and sew the full length of zipper sandwich using the zipper foot.

3. Do the same for the other 2 strips on the other side of zipper.  You can zig zag or serged the other raw edges so that it will not fray so much.


your strips is now nicely sandwiching the zipper on both sides

 4. To insert zipper to the finished bag, just pin the fabric with zipper attached to the opening of the bag, align the edge.  Sew a straight stitch along the bag opening to secure the zipper. Make sure that both sides of zipper are align else you can't  close your zipper well.  Test out the zipper before you sew to check.   See photo above on the zipper on bag for illustration.

And you are done with the bag.

Tutorial on National Day Red & White Skirts

Here's the tutorial for the Red and White skirts that I made for my girls for National Day.

Red skirt with lace

Measurement of my 18-month girl waist = 18"
Waistband area = 18"X 1.5 = 27"
Skirt width = 18"X 2 = 36"
Skirt length = 7

So, you cut 1 rectangle measuring 36" by 8.5" [including 1" for elastic band and 0.5" for skirt hem]

Instruction
1. Fold the rectangle RSF (right side facing) and sew up the side seams with 0.5" seam allowance. Finish the seam with serger or zig zag. Press seam open.

2. Serge or zig zag the waist and hem area. Turn the skirt RSF out and lay the lace ontop of skirt (RSF).  Try to align the edge of the lace to the edge of the hem. Sew in place to secure lace around the skirt hem.

3. Turn the lace down and press. 

4. For the waistband, fold over 0.25" and press.  Fold another 0.75" waistband and press.  Sew close to the waistband edge and leave a 2" gap for inserting of elastic band.  I've used 19" long of 0.5" wide elastic band. Using a safety pin and push the band through the casing, overlap the band and sew with zig zag stitch to secure. Push the band inside the opening at waistband and sew it close.

Your pretty skirt is ready in 30 minutes!

Red skirt with pettiskirt and drawstring details

Skirt is made of 3 parts = Waistband, Outer skirt with drawstring and Inner pettiskirt with gathered hem.

For a tall 6 year old, waist = 22"
Waistband length = 23" X 1.5 = 34.5"
Waistband width = 4"

Outer Red skirt width = 22" X 2= 44"
Outer Red skirt length = 12.5"

Pettiskirt width = 22" X 1.8" = 40" [I just make it slightly smaller than the outer skirt]
Pettiskirt length = 12.5"
Pettiskirt hem width = 3"
Pettiskirt hem length = 22" X 2.5 =  55"

Drawstrings (2 pieces) = 20" X 0.75" [serge or zigzag the raw edges]
Drawstring casing = 3" X 11" [serge or zigzag the raw edges]

Instruction
Red Outer Skirt
1) Sew the side seams for the Red Outer skirt with Right Side Facing (RSF) with 3/8" seam allowance. Press seam open and serge the seams.

2) Serge the hem of the skirt. Fold in 0.5" of hem and sew a straight stitch near the serged edge all around the skirt hem. Press.

3) Flip the skirt to the Right Side and arrange the skirt so that the seam are now in the centre back.  Eyeball at about 1/4 section on the front Right side of skirt and place 2 pins to make the place where for the gathered drawstring.  You can also choose to place it in the middle or left side. The preference is yours.

Drawstring & Casing
1) To make the drawstring, fold the 2 sides of the strips to the middle so that it is now 0.25" X 20".  Sew a straight stitch in the middle of the strip. Do the same for the other strip.

2) To make the casing, fold the strip into half to make 1.5" X 11" and sew it close with 3/8" seam allowance.

3) Insert the the 2 strips through the casing and try to push the strips to the side of the casing. Pin the strips in place inside the casing as show. The edge of the strips should be align to the top of the casing.

4) Sew a straight stitch in the middle of the casing, in between the 2 strips. Go slow and make sure that you don't stitch the strips in!

Sew Casing to Red Outer Skirt
1) Turn the Red Outer Skirt Wrong Side Out and position the casing where your pins are. Pin the casing securely so that it's straight. The end of the casing should be just above your hem.

2) Sew a straight stitch in the middle of casing, making sure it's straight. Then, try pushing the 2 strips toward the middle of the casing by using pins to help you.  Re-pin your strap so that the sides of the casing have allowance for you to sew. 

3) Starting from the hem, sew close to the casing edge all the way to the top and across the casing top and down along the other sides of the casing back to the hem. Make sure that you don't accidentally sew the strips. Your strips should be loose so that you can pull them easily.

the front view of the 3 sewn lines

White Pettiskirt
1) Sew the seam together with RSF similar to step 1 of the Outer skirt. Press seam open and serged seam.

2) Sew the ruffled hem of the pettiskirt by sewing a gathering stitch (using the widest stitch length) on one side at 2/8".  It will curl up automatically.  You can adjust the gathers so that it roughly fits the length of your pettiskirt hem. 

3) Pin the gathered edge of the hem to the hem of the white pettiskirt, RSF. Sew with 3/8" seam or just enough to cover your gathered stitch.

4) Turn the gathered hem down and turn the skirt Right Side Out. Turn the seam upwards and sew another row of stitches around the hem so that you catch the seams.  Then, sew a narrow hem on the pettiskirt hem.

Waistband
1) Serge the raw edges.  As my white fabric is abit thin, I've folded the waistband strip twice so that it becomes 1" X 34.5". 

Assemble Waistband to Red skirt and Pettiskirt
1) Insert the White Pettiskirt (Right Side facing Out) into the Red Outer skirt (Right Side facing Out). Align the waistline. Pin both pieces together at waist and sew a basing stitch close to the edge.

2) Then, insert the waistband over the Red and White Skirt and pin in place. Make sure that you cover the basing stitch.  As you have fold over twice, the raw edges are all inside the skirt. 


3) Sew a straight stitch close to the edge to secure waistband to skirt. Remember to leave 2"gap for inserting of your elastic band.  Your elastic band should be the same length as the waist as you will overlap about 0.5"and zigzag the overlapped area close.  Pull the elastic inside the skirt and sew the opening close.  Your skirt is complete!

Phew.  Anyone is lost? I hope not. Let me know if my instruction is not clear.

Another 2 laptop bags

Remember the laptop bag that I made sometime ago? Well, I made 2 more! Customised order from my colleagues at office. I guess my sewing is good enough to sell now : P

Anyway, I use what I've and they picked out the colour schemes. So, here's what they will be receiving.

The purple one is from Jay-Cyn Designs Avalon collection - Take Flight Grape. I've added the magnectic snap in the inside of the bag and make the handphone pouch infront slightly longer.  Also added a big pocket inside the bag as my colleague wanted it.

The green floral fabric is from Fabriworm.com but I can't remember the name Queen Anne's Lace in Olive by Nancy Mims.  To make it more interesting, i've added a solid green border on top. The fabric was from Ikea. I've also added the snap infront of the bag and also a big pocket inside the bag. 

For both bags, I've attached the handle directly into the bag instead of the D ring as I found that it is more stable and didn't twist around so much.

I love these bags! They are so pretty and functional. Will be making one more in Blue soon. My office soon will have multi-coloured laptop bags : )

Happy National Day, Singapore!

We have just celebrated our nation's birthday on 9 August 2011. It was a day of Red and White (our national flag colours).  Singaporeans and visitors alike came together to celebrate with an evening of performance and fireworks at our Marina floating platform.

So, in celebration of the National Day this year, I made 2 skirts for my girls. In Red and White of course!

My D1, I made a gathered skirt with drawstring details on the front with white inner skirts peeping under the red overskirt. It's very pretty and I really like the effect. 

For D2, I made her simpler (cause I've run out of time) with white lace trimming on the gathered skirt. It was so cute on her. I paired it with a white T-shirt that has a picture of a little girl hair. She gots lots of smiles and attention at church last week as our church celebrated the day in advance at Sunday School. She was termed 'little china girl' cause I tied her hair in 2 buns.

More pictures

Couldn't help posing the pictures. She's so cute, and I'm her mom!  I'll post the tutorials for the skirts in my next post.